Facilitated forum about students’ schooling experiences
Julie Rogers & Louise Tapper, Facilitators
10.00am-10.15am
Record reflective questions on capture sheet – ongoing throughout the day
10.15am-10.45am
Session One Table Topics
Table 1
Twice Exceptional Students
Rose Blackett
Table 2
Introduction to GAT identification
Barbara Bowron
Table 3
Working with parents to identify gifted Māori students
Phil (Piripi) Prendergast
Table 4
Philosophy for GAT students
Jay Sloss
Table 5
Transition from early childhood education to primary school
Rebecca Chatwin
Table 6
Practical ideas for practitioners for differentiation: Year 5/6 level
Anna Kingi & Beth Watson
Table 7
Practical ideas for practitioners for differentiation: Year 3/4 level
Melissa Thompson & Jan Thompson
Table 8
Practical ideas for practitioners for differentiation: Year 2/3 level
Belinda Walsh & Rhonda Aitken
Table 9
Advancing the Regional Strategy Goals for Gifted Education
Juliet Martin
10.45am-11.15am
Morning tea
11.15am-11.45am
Session Two Table Topics
Table 1
Future Problem Solving
Julie Rogers
Table 2
Mixed ability classes and gifted students: meaningful learning strategies
Sue Williams
Table 3
Working with parents to identify gifted Māori students
Phil (Piripi) Prendergast
Table 4
Philosophy for GAT students
Jay Sloss
Table 5
Bibliotherapy – using books to meet the emotional and social needs of gifted students
Pauline Dann
Table 6
Practical ideas for practitioners for differentiation: Year 5/6 level
Anna Kingi & Beth Watson
Table 7
Practical ideas for practitioners for differentiation: Year 3/4 level
Melissa Thompson & Jan Thompson
Table 8
Practical ideas for practitioners for differentiation: Year 2/3 level
Belinda Walsh & Rhonda Aitken
Table 9
Advancing the Regional Strategy Goals for Gifted Education
Juliet Martin
11.45am-12.15pm
Speaker 2
"Cos we're all looking at it from a different point of view": understandings of achievement and underachievement for gifted and talented students
Louise Tapper
12.145pm-12.30pm
Record reflective questions on capture sheet – ongoing throughout the day
12.30pm-1.15pm
Lunch
1.15pm-1.45pm
Speaker 3
Tour of Gifted and Talented Online
Maria Lute
1.45pm-2.15pm
Table discussion
What has worked well in the past and what do we want to build on? This session will feed into the goals session.
Louise Tapper, facilitator
2.15pm-3.00pm
Feedback session
Feedback session on the regional goals
Next steps
Juliet Martin, facilitator
Speaker and table presenter information
Name
Bio
Banks Avenue Primary School teachers
Anna Kingi, Year 6 Cluster Teacher
Belinda Walsh, Yr 1/2 Cluster Teacher
Beth Watson, Yr 5 Cluster Teacher
Jan Thompson, Yr 3/4 Cluster Teacher
Melissa Thompson, Yr 4 Cluster Teacher
Rhonda Nicholl, Yr 3 Cluster Teacher
Barbara Bowron
Barbara is Deputy Principal at Ilam Primary School with many years of experience as a class teacher and coordinator of gifted programmes. She has recently facilitated a series of workshops for educators of gifted and talented students.
Jay Sloss
Jay completed his Masters Degree in Philosophy from the University of Canterbury in 2007, and has been teaching secondary school philosophy for four years. He has worked alongside Rangi Ruru’s GATE Coordinator, Sue Ogden, to promote philosophy in schools by organising student conferences, seminars and regular philosophy club meetings.
Julie Rogers
Julie has taught from Years 7-13 in a range of schools throughout NZ specialising in gifted education. She has studied gifted education and was a founding member of CAGE.
She is currently Joint Gifted & Talented Coordinator at Cobham Intermediate School where she has developed Future Problem Solving into a very popular programme. Teams from Cobham have successfully represented NZ at the international finals in the USA for the past three years.
She passionately believes in the development of teachers and identifying gifted students to provide them with the richest learning opportunities possible to enable them to be excited about and extended in their learning.
Juliet Martin
Juliet worked as a Gifted Education Advisor at the University of Canterbury from 2001-2009. In this role she worked in secondary and intermediate schools across the region. Prior to that she was a secondary school teacher and held the position of Gifted Education Coordinator, firstly in a coeducational school and secondly in a girls’ school. She has presented papers at international and national gifted education conferences and has been published in peer reviewed gifted journals. During her time as an advisor Juliet held the position of secondary advisor on the National Coordination Team for Gifted Education Advisory Support and was a project coordinator for ‘Above the Clouds – Ka rewa ake ki nga kapua: Identifying and nurturing Māori students of promise’, edited by Angus Macfarlane and published in 2010. She has developed many materials for use in schools and on TKI.
Louise Tapper
Louise Tapper has been an educator in the field of gifted education for 15 years and a parent of gifted children for much longer! She has taught extension studies to primary students and has worked as a teacher educator in this area.
Louise coordinated a programme for gifted students involving a cluster of primary schools in North Canterbury which was a Ministry of Education Talent Development Initiative from 2003 -2005. She is active in parent support groups and writes and teaches courses in parenting gifted children for Community Education at the University of Canterbury. Louise was a member of the Advisory Group to the Ministry of Education for six years. She is the Deputy Chair of giftEDnz, the Professional Association for Gifted Education. She is currently studying for her doctorate at the University of Canterbury.
Maria Lute PMP
Maria is an education consultant with Cognition and a credentialed project manager. She currently manages Gifted Online and English, ESOL and Literacy Online. Her work on the Gifted and Talented contract for the Ministry of Education includes the facilitation of regional goals for seven regions and the coordination of the regional symposia.
Pauline Dann
Pauline Dann is the GATE Coordinator at Selwyn House School and also teaches a Year 3 class. She has worked with gifted children from Y1-8 in various roles for almost 20 years, completing the post graduate Certificate of Gifted Education at UNSW in 2007. Pauline presented at the NZ Conference in 2006, has spoken at various teacher seminars and parent meetings. During 2008-2009 she taught in the UK.
Phil (Piripi) Prendergast
Phil was part of the team at Aranui High School that led the TDI ‘He Waka Hapaitia’ identifying and working with gifted Māori students. Phil has a Certificate in Gifted Education from the University of New South Wales and is currently responsible for gifted education at Te Kura Whakapumau in Christchurch.
Rebecca Chatwin
Rebecca has been working in Early Childhood Education for 11 years and is currently the Centre Manager of Pioneer Early Learning Centre. During this time she has had the opportunity to work with a number of young children and their families to recognise and support their gifted and talented education and care. Rebecca is passionate about transition to school and supporting children and their families through this process.
Rose Blackett
Rose Blackett is the current President of the New Zealand Association for Gifted Children (NZAGC), past President of Christchurch Explorers and a committee member of the Canterbury Association for Gifted Education (CAGE). She is the first international appointment made to the US based SENG Board of directors. Rose is a past teacher and current assessor for the National Gifted Education Centre. She is a parent of two gifted children and works as an Educational Psychologist in private practice, based in Christchurch.
Sue Williams
Sue has postgraduate GAT qualifications, COGE, (University of New South Wales) and has specialised in this area for twelve years. Sue was the GAT Advisor and Teacher in charge of Future Problem Solving at Cobham Intermediate until 2009, when she became the Gifted and Talented Coordinator at Fendalton School. Sue helps teachers differentiate for the gifted learners in their classrooms, coordinates the school’s extension programmes and facilitates the Gifted Education PD Course “Teacher helping Teachers.”
Sue also teaches Future Problem Solving at Redcliffs School one day per week. Sue has two highly gifted children.
Presentation Abstracts
Presentation Name
Abstract
Advancing the GATE strategic goals for the Christchurch region (Juliet Martin)
Juliet will facilitate two consecutive sessions to advance the draft goals that have been developed by the representative Regional Strategy Group (RSG). These goals will be shared with the whole group in the afternoon session for final input before being presented at the National hui 17/18 November in Auckland.
Please come and have your say!
Bibliotherapy: Using Books to Meet the Emotional and Social Needs of Gifted Students (Pauline Dann)
This presentation begins with a brief review of the social and emotional dimension to giftedness – gifted students not only think differently, they feel differently. The major focus will cover the process of bibliotherapy and how to implement a programme in your class or school. Teachers and parents who understand gifted students are able to implement bibliotherapy without any special qualifications.
Developmental bibliotherapy involves using quality literature as a catalyst for discussion about issues gifted students may meet or have already experienced, helping them to both understand and cope with personal problems. Problems that are a normal part of growing up gifted!
Examples of suitable and available books will be shared. Copies of generic questions and a book list for NZ teachers will be available to participants.
Cos we're all looking at it from a different point of view (Louise Tapper)
The presentation will begin with an overview of this doctoral research project which looks at the understandings that gifted and talented students, their parents and teachers have about the phenomena of achievement and underachievement. The findings from both the student and the parent participant groups will be discussed, together with suggested implications for pedagogy. How can we as practitioners be informed by the lived experiences of these participants?
The literature on gifted underachievement maintains that there is no one specific successful intervention for preventing or remediating underachievement in gifted students. However, the presentation will briefly explore one suggested strategy that has emerged from the research and that is supported by recent literature.
Future Problem Solving: The Programme and How a Teacher Might use its Many Aspects (Julie Rogers)
FPS is an international programme for able learners from approximately Year 5-13, requiring high level reasoning about important, future issues. It studies a range of issues each year e.g. in 2011 healthy living, air transport of the future, water quality, genetic testing and emergency planning. It teaches students a wide range of research and writing skills as students research the most up to date knowledge on topics and then how to apply their creative skills to project thirty or more years into the future and solve issues related to the topic. Teachers can use aspects of the programme in their teaching or have teams or individuals compete nationally. The FPS process plus other dimensions of the programme will be introduced also including scenario writing and CPS – Community Problem Solving.
Introduction to GAT identification (Barbara Bowron)
This presentation is for teachers who are beginning their journey in gifted education. Participants will consider their own school culture including the diversity within their school and/or class to answer the following question. Focus question: What systems are in place to identify gifted and talented students at your school and are they working?
During our discussion we will consider
What gifts and talents will be identified?
What criteria will be used to identify these students?
What identification tools need to be considered?
It is anticipated that this session will be interactive with all participants contributing to the discussion.
Just add water Philosophy – how to get Philosophy up and running at your school (Jay Sloss)
This presentation will provide practical resources and methods for introducing (or developing) philosophy at your school. We will look at:
the various resources banks available to you, (samples will be provided, but bring a USB if you want more!)
Secondary Philosophy teacher associations and networks you can be part of,
a brief glimpse at how you might structure a student conference, philosophy club
Mixed ability classes and gifted students – meaningful learning strategies (Sue Williams)
This presentation will assist classroom teachers to cater for gifted students within mixed ability classrooms at primary and intermediate level. The strategies can be adapted for junior classes up to Year 8.
Its primary aim is to give teachers examples of practical, appropriate strategies to engage and extend gifted children within the whole class context.
Sue will also briefly explain how extension programmes can compliment in-class learning, and the course run at Fendalton School each year, “Teachers helping Teachers – Teaching Gifted Children.”
There will be ample opportunity to ask questions during the presentation
Practical Ideas for Practitioners (Banks Avenue School)
At Banks Avenue School we have developed our programmes for the teaching of Gifted and Talented children through working with professionals and completing the MOE Talent Development Initiative Contract. Classroom teachers from Junior, Middle and Senior levels will share a selection of practical ideas for differentiation within the classroom. We hope that these will be valuable tools for busy classroom teachers that can be easily implemented into your classroom programme. Bring your pendrive and you may get some useful gems!
The Twice Exceptional Child (Rose Blackett)
“My child is gifted!” “My child has a learning disability”
The unusual thing about these two statements is that they come from a parent speaking about the same child. A twice exceptional child.
A twice exceptional child is gifted with a learning disability (e.g. SLD, dyslexia, Aspergers, ADHD or sensory processing disorder). The learning disability impairs their academic performance and masks their high potential. As a group they are often highly creative but can be frustrating to teach and cater for in the classroom. Much like Dr Dolittle’s push me-pull you, a twice exceptional child may be unsure how to use their strengths and develop their weaknesses in synchrony.
This presentation / discussion will provide some practical strategies on how to recognise and support twice exceptional students. It will include some examples that illustrate these strategies in action.
Tour of Gifted Online (Maria Lute)
This presentation showcases the tools and resources available on Gifted Online for teachers, parents and students. It also highlights some of the developments planned for this website.
Transition from early childhood education to primary school (Rebecca Chatwin)
Why is transition important?
What does research tell us?
What do children and their families need to know?
Expectations of all involved
Tools to support the process
A process.
Working with parents to identify gifted Māori students (Phil Piripi Prendergast)
This presentation will take the form of a discussion and will look at approaches to identifying gifted Māori students. In particular, there will be a focus on the role of parents and whanau in this process and we will draw on some of Jill Bevan-Brown’s research to support us in this discussion.
Programme: Gifted & Talented Symposium Christchurch
Friday 23 September 2011, Copthorne Commodore
Speaker and table presenter information
PMP
Presentation Abstracts
(Juliet Martin)
(Pauline Dann)
(Louise Tapper)
(Julie Rogers)
(Barbara Bowron)
Focus question: What systems are in place to identify gifted and talented students at your school and are they working?
During our discussion we will consider
- What gifts and talents will be identified?
- What criteria will be used to identify these students?
- What identification tools need to be considered?
It is anticipated that this session will be interactive with all participants contributing to the discussion.(Jay Sloss)
(Sue Williams)
(Banks Avenue School)
(Rose Blackett)
(Maria Lute)
(Rebecca Chatwin)
(Phil Piripi Prendergast)